Eurovision Song Contest 2008
The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 27th annual Eurovision Song Contest. The contest will take place in the United Kingdom, following Emeli Sande's win with the song "My Kind of Love" in the 2007 Contest. The preliminary dates set for the two semi-finals are 14 August and 16 August 2012, with the final planned for the evening of 18 August 2012. The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 27th annual Eurovision Song Contest. Following Emeli Sande's win at the 2007 Contest, the festival was brought to the city of Manchester, United Kingdom. The two semi-finals were held on 20 May 2008 and 22 May 2008, and the final was held on 24 May 2008 at the Manchester Arena. Fourty-two countries announced their participation in the contest, with both Slovenia and San Marino withdrawing. The televoting system was reverted back so that the public could vote from as soon as the show began. Each country votes were decided by 50:50 system; they were split between televoting and a national jury. The contest was won by singer Kalomira from Greece with the song "Mambo". "Secret Combination" earned a total of 304 points, placining it in the top spot (the difference between the winner and runner-up was 104 points, being the largest difference in the contest's history). France finished in second place, with Cyprus finishing in third. They were followed by Azerbaijan, which reached 4th place and Denmark completed the top 5 in fifth place. Other than France; both Germany and the host country, the United Kingdom were the other members of the "Big Five" that managed to rank within the top 10, with Germany finishing in 6th place and United Kingdom landing in 7th place. The competition was not so succesful for the other "Big Five" members, Spain and Italy, who finished in 23rd and last place (25th) respectively. Location The United Kingdom's first appearance was in the first contest in 1982, but they have started appearing consecutavely since 1984. They have one three times before, including in 2011. Six venues for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 went forward with a bid. Belfast's Odyssey Arena, Glasgow's SECC, Liverpool's Echo Arena, London's Earls Court and Wembley Arena and Manchester Arena. Liverpool and Belfast were the first two venues to drop out due to financial problems and in the end it was between Wembley Arena and Manchester Arena. The first has a capacity of 12,500 and the latter has a capacity of 23,000. In the end the Eurovision committee chose Manchester Arena as the venue for the 27th Eurovision Song Contest. Format In a meeting of the Eurovision Reference Group on 4 September 2012, there were many rule changes decided. After controversy last year after the voting rules being changed to the "15 minute voting window" format, BBC have decided to change the voting rules so that the public can begin voting as soon as the show starts. The number of participants has been reduced from 44 in the last edition to 42, after the withdrawals of Slovakia and San Marino. After there being 26 countries in the grand final last edition, due to the United Kingdom being both the host country and a Big-5 country, there were 25 finalists. Controversy Despite the voting change, so that the public were able to vote from the beginning of the show, many members of the public from around Europe still complained that the first half of the final received much fewer points than the second half. From positions 1-13 on the Final night, 785 points were awarded with the the highest placing country in the first half being the United Kingdom with 114 points and in 7th place. However in the second half, from positions 14-25, there were 1,651 points awarded, over double the amount in the first half. The highest placing country in that half was the winning country, Greece and the complete Top 6 were in the second half. BBC later commented that they or no one else could change the voting procedure to make it even. There was also light controversy when the semi-final placings were announced and although Belgium placed 24th on the final with just 9 points, in the second semi-final they received a high 80 points and finished in 6th, comfortably qualifying, however the country performed in the 1st position on the evening of the final. Participating countries Semi-finals Semi-final 1 'Semi-final 2' 'Final' Scoreboards 'Final' '12 points' Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the final: